Enjoy your Christmas time

I am taking a break from blog writing now for the Christmas period. I have put a few additions into posts, relevant to interesting issues; scroll down.

If the whole Western business, the whole commercial Christmas effort gets you down, relax.

Not because Barack thoroughly intends to get rid of all previous states and culture traditions. ( He apparently does.)

Jesus was not born to us mid winter. When he was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary it was probably mid winter, since he was probably born mid Autumn.

'And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.

Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus.

He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever.

And of his kingdom there shall be no end.'

Here, a site page explaining the matter of Jesus' birth time in detail.

Mary and Joseph , at the time of Jesus' birth, were rejected by an indifferent, self absorbed world to the point Mary nearly had no where to give birth. No one would help them.
Not even when Joseph pointed out that Mary was about to give birth. They had to go knocking from door to door, everyone turned them down.

It must have been hurtful and bewildering.

Eventually, an innkeeper consented to lend them his stable.

The sort of response they were greeted with when in need might remind you of much of the world we live in today.

Throughout Israel there had been excitement over the coming of the Messiah to the point that Herod, the tyrannical political ruler, had been jealous and frightened about it. He did not understand the prophecies about Jesus and his mission. He was a tyrannical politician to the core.

He believed a 'King of the Jews' would come; he wondered what it all meant.

Jesus was born in a stable, as there had been 'no room at the inn.' Mary will have been carefully tended, and protected every moment by God.

After Jesus was born Mary tenderly placed him in a manger there. It will have been a little wooden one, filled with new, clean hay.

In Chapter 2, Verse 7, we read: "And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn."

The scriptures indicate that throughout the Old Testament era, satan tried to disrupt the advent of the Messiah. He did not want Jesus to be born to us.

As soon as Jesus was born, he did not want him to live.

He did not want him to continue to fulfill the promises, the prophecies.

The Son of God had come to earth in spite all satan's efforts to prevent it, all recorded throughout the Old Testament. satan knew his plans against the salvation of mankind would be forever defeated if Jesus fulfilled his ministry and mission on earth.

He started in straight away, as soon as Jesus was born, trying to attack the newborn baby Jesus and attacking others without scruple of any kind. Herod, in a tyrant's rage, sought to have every male infant under the age of two years old in Bethlehem killed.

The effort to annihilate Jesus failed; Mary and Joseph were warned. They knew the direction of the Lord because they put their faith in him.

.... behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

Matthew 2.13

The little family were probably only a few days out of the little stable just before Herod's soldiers raged in and rampaged the place.

God's timing was perfect. The young couple left Bethlehem carrying Jesus; Mary on the back of a donkey. Mary must have been wide eyed, amazed, horrified at what Herod wanted to do. Horrified that anyone would want to destroy the baby Jesus. Horrified that her family had been threatened in such a way.

She knew what it was all about.

In her arms she held the saviour of the world.

She already knew her baby was the prophesied Messiah. She was living in prophecy fulfillment; all about her, she saw prophecy being fulfilled.

I wonder what she must have felt, riding out of Bethlehem.
The bible doesn't say whether Mary and Joseph knew exactly what Herod was planning in his effort to find and destroy Jesus. It looks like they didn't, at the time of escaping.

We are just told that Mary and Joseph escaped with baby Jesus, having been warned in a dream that Herod was seeking to kill Jesus.

And later they heard about what Herod had done, they must have done.

King James Bible
'In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted, because they were no more'.

Leaving Bethlehem there will have been security, peace and joy in Mary's heart as she held on tight to God.

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” ( Jesus.)

It is good to celebrate the coming of Messiah Jesus to the world and his perfect story.

I heard a song this time last year, a soul song, a spontaneous song a lady had recorded. It was a song about Jesus the healer, the Messiah, who came to earth to set us free and lift us as his friends.

Everyone who sincerely calls on the name of the Lord Jesus is heard, and set free.

Jesus describes himself 'I am the good shepherd, and I lay down my life for the sheep.' He said he was sent to 'the lost sheep of Israel.'

When a sheep goes astray, wanders out of the fold, the good shepherd will go far to get it, and bring it back.

From her song, it seemed as though this lady had been rescued from a situation through God's love.

It was a song expressing her love for him, her acknowledgment of him, and what he had done for her.

'Well hallelujah, Jesus'.

*******

How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given. So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heaven. No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.